Super Twin Beacon Ray?

[Maxim2Eng]

I have been working on this project for over a year now. I got the idea in 1972 when a friend asked me to help him convert his model 11 to 4 beams. I responded, "Why stop there? Let's make them oscillate!" We never got our hands on spare 174 parts so we settled with a jerry-rigged 4 beam conversion. And it's been bugging me ever since.


I am now (finally) in my new garage and am in the process of displaying my collection, which has been in my farm shop the last 3 years. So I decided to see if I could create the one-off "SUPER TWIN BEACON RAY". It's best to start with pics, so here's a video of the prototype in action:





It WORKS! Please know that no 174 parts were modified, damaged or destroyed in the making of this beacon. In fact, the bar was a dumpster find by my younger brother years ago--looked like the port beacon got whacked off and the former owner couldn't effect a repair.


I used a 176 and 174 bulb holder, tapped the bottom of the shaft to use a 1/4" bolt for the syncro gears and another 1/4" bolt to hold the oscillator gear. Move the motor 90 degrees and, et viola! Clear tubing made excellent spacers.

















After testing the reassembled bar,





disappointment set in...the chain has too much slack to make the slave oscillate the proper 95 degrees.





But I have no doubt that it will work! I have a possible work-around using an aluminum u-channel and attaching soldered strait chain sections at each end to function as gears, thus no slack. Now if the motor has enough juice and I can get my wife's tile our from under my bench....

 

[MIKET2]

Huh! Unusual but very creative setup. I like it! :shock:

 

[luckyducky]

I like the single beacon more than the twin cross bar. I always wanted to try to have the front oscillate red/blue and rear amb/blue.

 

[CrownVic97]

That's crazy cool!

 

[stansdds]

That's a great effort!


Maybe FedSig missed the boat by not using a pair of 144's for a Twin Beacon Ray.


If anyone doesn't know what a 144 is, it used the motor and gear design, base and dome of the 14 and the lamp holder assembly of the 174/176.


They also made the 143 which used the lamp holder assembly of the 173.

 

[NPS Ranger]

And they also made the 044 which flashed alternately to all 4 sides but didn't rotate.

 

[JohnMarcson]

Interesting idea. I love oscillating beacons

 

[crescentstar69]

That's awesome!

 

[ERIC6913]

That's a great effort!

Maybe FedSig missed the boat by not using a pair of 144's for a Twin Beacon Ray.


If anyone doesn't know what a 144 is, it used the motor and gear design, base and dome of the 14 and the lamp holder assembly of the 174/176.


They also made the 143 which used the lamp holder assembly of the 173.

here are pics of my 044 Visi-bar, 143 and 144 beacons.

 

[Maxim2Eng]

Thanks for your compliments, fellow aficionados of vintage equipment. Actually it was ERIC6913's posting of his 144 on the old board that got me really working on the project. The 144 is basically identical to the 14 except the 4 bulb housing slips over the 14's shaft. The 176 bulb housing & shaft slips perfectly into the 14 motor bracket and, of course, the 174 oscillator gears fit as designed. Using the brass bushings from the 174/176 will keep the bulb housing at the proper height and the rubber tubing acts as spacers to keep the housing from slipping upward. The brush assembly of the 176 housing is similar to the 144 so that was an easy conversion and since the light oscillates, a coil of wire powers the slave unit bulbs (until I get another 176 housing).


Oh, and I like your suggestion LuckyDucky. I'll give it a try.


So go ahead, make your own 14-174. Or should that be 174-14...or Super14.... Amp Eater?

 

[nerdly_dood]

I might get banned for this, but its worth a mention - Anyone ever tried doing a Twinsonic like that?

 

[MIKET2]

I might get banned for this, but its worth a mention - Anyone ever tried doing a Twinsonic like that?

Your Banned :twisted:

 

[ryan]

Well, I would love to see someone make a 4 bulb holder like a 176 mount up to either side, I would rather it rotate then oscillate

 

[luckyducky]

Does anyone remember seeing that model 14 with the hill-light bulb mounted inside on eBay? The price was something like $144 the model was 14H. I really really want to know who bought it. If anyone knows???

 

[ERIC6913]

Does anyone remember seeing that model 14 with the hill-light bulb mounted inside on eBay? The price was something like $144 the model was 14H. I really really want to know who bought it. If anyone knows???

that model was actually a 14T. i need that one as well if someone finds one and i'll even pay twice that ebay price

 

[stansdds]

I've seen a picture of one and the diagram in the Service Parts Index, that's the closest I've been to a 14T.

 

[Wigwam700]

I might get banned for this, but its worth a mention - Anyone ever tried doing a Twinsonic like that?

I have not seen a Twinsonic like that but somebody had a Sireno Lightbar on Youtube that had twin Quad Ratators in blue and they were the Cat's ASS.


Todd

 

[Hoser]

Nice Eric, got video?? LOL

 

[Wigwam700]

here are pics of my 044 Visi-bar, 143 and 144 beacons.

I never knew they existed after all these years, thanks for the photos and information.


Todd

 

[solid_snake]

that's pretty cool and good idea!I love!

 

[Sirenman]

Shorten the chain. It isn't that hard to do with a pair of needlenose pliers.


John Dorgan[


QUOTE=Maxim2Eng;28598]I have been working on this project for over a year now. I got the idea in 1972 when a friend asked me to help him convert his model 11 to 4 beams. I responded, "Why stop there? Let's make them oscillate!" We never got our hands on spare 174 parts so we settled with a jerry-rigged 4 beam conversion. And it's been bugging me ever since.


I am now (finally) in my new garage and am in the process of displaying my collection, which has been in my farm shop the last 3 years. So I decided to see if I could create the one-off "SUPER TWIN BEACON RAY". It's best to start with pics, so here's a video of the prototype in action:





It WORKS! Please know that no 174 parts were modified, damaged or destroyed in the making of this beacon. In fact, the bar was a dumpster find by my younger brother years ago--looked like the port beacon got whacked off and the former owner couldn't effect a repair.


I used a 176 and 174 bulb holder, tapped the bottom of the shaft to use a 1/4" bolt for the syncro gears and another 1/4" bolt to hold the oscillator gear. Move the motor 90 degrees and, et viola! Clear tubing made excellent spacers.

















After testing the reassembled bar,





disappointment set in...the chain has too much slack to make the slave oscillate the proper 95 degrees.





But I have no doubt that it will work! I have a possible work-around using an aluminum u-channel and attaching soldered strait chain sections at each end to function as gears, thus no slack. Now if the motor has enough juice and I can get my wife's tile our from under my bench....

 

[Wigwam700]

Wonder Twin powers activate, form of a Super Twin!!!!!!!!!!!!! Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If you are taking orders, I'll take 2 thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Maxim2Eng]

Shorten the chain. It isn't that hard to do with a pair of needlenose pliers.
John Dorgan

John...excellent suggestion! Alas, the project has languished on the workbench since my last post 14 months ago. But your suggestion has inspired me to try again. When I was in high school, I worked at the local service station in St. Matthews who was also a FedSig dealer. We created our own tool based on snap-ring pliers to remount the chains after a repair--still a PITA, but....

 

[toon80]

Once the chain is off, the operation should take you 10 minutes.


I had to remove 3 links of my AeroDynic 24R. Chain had slacked and was winding against itself after some time, jamming everything to a stop.


Pretty easy with needle-nose pliers.

 

[Wailer]

I dunno... if I tried doing one of those I'd use two motorized beacons instead of a chain drive.

 

[Crown_Vics]

And they also made the 044 which flashed alternately to all 4 sides but didn't rotate.

Now that's an idea for a twin!

 

[stansdds]

I dunno... if I tried doing one of those I'd use two motorized beacons instead of a chain drive.

Yeah, that would be easy, but would also require a pair of complete model 174's and they would not be synchronized.

 

[Maxim2Eng]

OK, I have much of my display infrastructure in place in my garage so I have tried the suggestion from John "Sirenman" Dorgan, RIP...I am sad to say after removing 3 links from the chain, it still does not oscillate a full 95*--slave or master. I will try a length of all thread with turnbuckles on each end in hopes a more rigid connection will work. I may try a new motor as well. Last resort will be two motors of similar speed and use the chain to keep them in sync.


The good news is I was able to fashion a tool to make installing the chain just a bad dream and not a nightmare!

 

[ERIC6913]

OK, I have much of my display infrastructure in place in my garage so I have tried the suggestion from John "Sirenman" Dorgan, RIP...I am sad to say after removing 3 links from the chain, it still does not oscillate a full 95*--slave or master. I will try a length of all thread with turnbuckles on each end in hopes a more rigid connection will work. I may try a new motor as well. Last resort will be two motors of similar speed and use the chain to keep them in sync.

The good news is I was able to fashion a tool to make installing the chain just a bad dream and not a nightmare!

sweet! got pics of the tool?

 

[Maxim2Eng]

sweet! got pics of the tool?

Very simple, very easy. A piece of 1/2" PVC, which is slightly larger than the sprockets. Slide in the end and place chain on PVC and pull over the sprockets. I had a lot of tension as the chain was shortened, but a standard chain should be a piece of cake. Let me know how it works.

 

[ERIC6913]

Very simple, very easy. A piece of 1/2" PVC, which is slightly larger than the sprockets. Slide in the end and place chain on PVC and pull over the sprockets. I had a lot of tension as the chain was shortened, but a standard chain should be a piece of cake. Let me know how it works.

I think we definitely need video of this procedure!

 

[toon80]

I think we definitely need video of this procedure!

Behold, members! Eric is asking for a video! j/k

 

[plybeep68]

Awesome thread!!! Can't figure out how i missed this one

 

[stansdds]

Behold, members! Eric is asking for a video! j/k

That explains the forecast for snow in my area of the world! :hahano:

 

[Skip Goulet]

That's a great effort!

Maybe FedSig missed the boat by not using a pair of 144's for a Twin Beacon Ray.


If anyone doesn't know what a 144 is, it used the motor and gear design, base and dome of the 14 and the lamp holder assembly of the 174/176.


They also made the 143 which used the lamp holder assembly of the 173.

That's neat. I've learned something new!


Using twin 174s would be nothing new...except for a bar mount. We had a super-nice '67 Pontiac ambulance where I worked in Lubbock years ago. It had red 174s on the front corners with four DoRay lollipops between the beacons and a Q on the rt. fender. You could say that baby comin' for miles!